Thursday, November 15, 2018
On 15th November 2018 Finpiemonte S.p.A. hosted a second AlpSib TAB meeting in the Turin's Circolo della Stampa. The meeting gathered representatives from the institutions, organisations, foundations and institutes working on the European, national and local level and offered the participants the possibility of fruitful debate on the SIB thematic in the Alpine Space.
Eckert school opened the TAB meeting with the presentation of their work related to the Transnational methodology for social impact investments in Alpine Space. The debate among all participants was encouraged in order to discuss various issues that will form part of the Methodology, among which legal aspects of SIBs, cost related issues, measurement of their efficiency.
Later, Ms Jelena Emde, Investment Platform Advisor at European Investment Bank (EIB) and Mr Philippe Bernard-Treille, Investment Officer at European Investment Fund (EIF), gave separate presentations on their institutions’ work in relation to social impact bonds. They told us that SIBs are gaining attention of European countries. Currently, 32 SIBs are currently running in 12 European countries (excluding United Kingdom). Areas of most often SIB interventions are homelessness, children/family care, unemployment, reoffending, NEETs, health and well-being.
TAB meeting ended with the presentations of experts that were moderating workshops during the AlpSib Forum held the day before.
An participative discussion took place during the TAB meeting and the participants actively expressed their interest in the topic. Everybody agreed on how dynamic the European space is in piloting SIBs and, more broadly, outcome based financing instruments for impact oriented initiatives.
Nevertheless, the European picture results to be still not very homogeneous, and the discussion identified a number of issues and policy implications for different actors.
One of the main issues analyzed was related to strengthening the commitment of different stakeholders and the role and responsibility of governments. With this respect, the action of EU institutions and of key stakeholders should be targeted to affirm the rationale and the legitimacy of SIBs in the context of the welfare systems.
Also common language/Terminology among various countries is missing and should be developed: transnational co-operation and mutual learning should be further supported and a sound political backing is needed.
